219w ago - Previously we reported on a PSN ban rumor which was followed by speculation on preventing bans, and today Dutch site PS3-Sense (linked above) claims that according to SKFU Sony plans to combat PS3 piracy with Blu-ray disc serial keys.

Similar to what's been done with PC games in the past, when you buy a PS3 or PSN game you'll get a serial key with it which you can use up to 5 times.

This gives Sony a signal that you are authorized to play the game and that you have a legal copy of the game, and the serial key only works with the same Blu-ray disc with the same serial number.

To quote, roughly translated: "From a very reliable source (SKFU) we have heard a striking new feature of the PS3. The feature would be present even at the PlayStation Network but is currently still hidden.

It is a serial system which Sony will soon start working on. Since the root keys are on the street you can see every homebrew tool (including backup management) make it sound like it was made by Sony. This makes it so hard for Sony to detect and block gamers with backup managers.

The idea is that soon every Blu-ray disc, with a unique number, comes with a serial key. These serial keys then work only with the Blu-ray disc with a matching number.

Therefore, if you have bought a game and put it into your PS3 you will enable it using your serial key, and thus a signal to Sony indicates that you are authorized to play the game on your PlayStation 3.

Reportedly, any serial key may be used only five times, as many PlayStation Store downloads. Given the implementation, according to our source has already been done in the PlayStation Network, and three unknown input fields on the PlayStation Network indicates the probability that this system will be introduced is enormous."

omg... plz stop all this talk about keygens etc. retail serials for activation... guess eboot.bins will be npdrm... you will prolly enter the key and receive an activation pkg... and guess how this will end?

nope, no keygen... and nope, offline key... prolly a decrypted eboot.bin for each game like its used to be with retail eboot.bins for fw3.5 to 3.41... nothing special... been on the pc for ages.

and on ps3 its even easier as there is no obfuscation, redirection, api/iat emulation... just an encryption layer...

but there is something to really prevent this... and step up the game harder... how about 100mb vm? ;>

I will admit if they do this like blizzard's new system this would really keep pirates out of online play. And kill any psn downloads. But I don't see this working for offline. Unless each batch of games comes with built in updates. Updating the key library for new and old titles.

Yes I'm a pirate when it comes to Sony. Never really liked the consoles. I only have mine cause I got it for the gf so she can play the select few exclusive titles she likes. I myself use it for emulation and bluray player. And yes a download ps3 games. And if I like the game I buy it for 360

We all know sooner or later Sony is going to do something we really don't know what.

All you that keep repeating the same point "its gonna kill retail/used game industry" doesn't make you smarter if your acting like a parrot on pirates shoulder (excuse the pun) thats repeating everyones ideas and what has been said already by them.

Now back on topic, i'm glad (if) they will put this measure into play, yea it will be hard to resell the game but i dont care, at least cheapos wont be playing online.. ie less kids. I pirate games that i will never buy - games i don't care about, rest i buy and play online like they were meant to be played, think of pirating as a trial/demo, you play single player, if you like it you pay and play online, if you don't well it saves people money rather then wasting on crappy games.

PS - My ps3 is still on ofw and playing games I payed for (and that deserve to be paid for) online.

Had a word with Gamestation staff in town today and they say if Sony try to implement something like this they will take them to court for loss of earnings.

A large chunk of their income comes from the used game industry and there in enough trouble trying to stay afloat already. Game own gamestation so it will be the same for them I assume.

According to the staff there, the big console makers have already made waves about making selling used games piracy and as you can imagine they were laughed out of the UK and told to give their heads a wobble... in a more corporate way lol.

Basically, at least in the UK this cannot happen. Sony would have to spend millions compensating the game stores and if they start fighting them, where the hell are the developers going to sell their games? Argos? I dont think so.

I really like this idea. I would even go as far as to say its brilliant. For marketing (and piracy reduction) I would say:

2 to 3 consoles online at any given time

$60 for the single use license. $80 for the multi-use license (and "selling" your second code would not be a violation of PSN terms of agreement (unless in your native country that sort of thing were illegal))

Any one with repeated cases of "mis-used" keys would be banned for a duration of time (1 week?) (Reduces piracy by preventing repeated attempts from hackers trying to circumvent the system)

I am all for backups, but stealing software is really wrong, and its even more really wrong to steal hardware use... servers are not free to setup, not free to run. I hope that most of you pirates out there can gain that moral objection, (This isn't WoW here, these companies don't make millions every month to run a server... (I really hate WoW, and I've never even played it.))

No I'm not. Look at the date I registered on this site, back then there was nothing on this site about piracy. It was just a PS3 news site - like PSU.com or the playstation blog.

Worse yet, when we do post legitimate/normal news articles nobody really replies to them, as if they aren't even read... but when we post something about the latest hack there are a hundred replies.

Sad to say, I don't see it stopping anytime soon... which as you can guess means less mainstream news and more 'scene' news in the future. I suppose the larger gaming sites (Kotaku, N4G, GameSpot, IGN, etc) have the audience who is actually interested in "PS Home updates" and so on as nobody here seems to be.

LOL you're are not fooling anyone, if you think sony is online reading your little BS post as if they would sympathize with you and not ban you, you are a pirate just like everyone else is. otherwise you would not be here.

and why all of a sudden its full of pirates, when the psp was hacked this site posted news about that, the ds as well, who are you foolin? now all of a sudden its full of pirates lmao, parlay matey parlay.

No I'm not. Look at the date I registered on this site, back then there was nothing on this site about piracy. It was just a PS3 news site - like PSU.com or the playstation blog.

There was hardly no news on the PSP or DS, just a very rare post. I also own neither of these so did not care about the news posted or even look into it.

It is obvious if Sony block people they will use a mass tool to do so, not singling out any individuals. So your analysis makes no sense.